Midnight in Valentine (10)

“…So that’s the famous Princess Knight.”

Valen, the deputy commander of the Flame Knight Unit, murmured.

“…”

“Isn’t she amazing? Not even twenty yet and already the 3rd seat.”

Next to Rubila, who was silently staring at Evangeline, Valen jokingly addressed his commander who wasn’t responding.

“Commander, you were pushed down to 5th seat because of her, weren’t you?”

“…”

“…Are you angry?”

When the hot-tempered Rubila, who would normally have gone wild and grabbed Valen by the hair, remained silent, Valen became anxious on his own.

But Rubila’s expression remained unchanged. With one of the most serious expressions he had seen in his life, Rubila was looking at Evangeline from a distance.

“…It’s unsettling.”

Rubila opened her mouth.

“Pardon?”

“I can tell just by watching from afar. It’s too unsettling.”

Rubila murmured quietly.

“At this rate, she will certainly collapse someday.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Let’s go, Valen.”

To her deputy commander who was asking in confusion, Rubila moved on her own accord and said.

“What are we doing just standing here? We should at least show our faces, shouldn’t we?”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Although Valen tilted his head at Rubila’s puzzling monologue, he soon followed his commander.

It was exactly a month later when the news spread that Rubila had punched Evangeline in the face.

“…Evangeline?”

Gilbert de Roi—or more precisely, the consciousness of Aslaksha’s avatar controlling his body—murmured in a surprised voice.

“That’s impossible. You should have fallen into ‘the original’s’ trap…”

Sweating nervously, Gilbert suddenly twisted the corner of his mouth with a grin.

“…It seems the original failed. I don’t know how you escaped, but you’re a mess. Zepharos’s bullets? The wounds are so mangled that the black bones inside are clearly visible. It’s a miracle you’re standing on two feet alive.”

Gilbert laughed, casually wielding a halberd that looked twice as tall as himself.

“Well, don’t take it badly. For our Demon King, you are one of the biggest obstacles.”

“…”

With light footwork, stomping the ground, Gilbert charged forward and shouted.

“You’ll have to die here!”

-Kaang!!

Gilbert’s halberd was blocked by the shaft of Delphina’s hammer. An intense metallic sound rang out.

“I won’t let you touch the Princess…!”

“A half-baked lump of blood dares to interfere!”

Delphina’s hammer collided repeatedly with the massive halberd.

Although her hammer was by no means small as a heavy weapon, it was only about half the size compared to the halberd.

In front of an opponent where she was significantly outmatched in weight of weapon, destructive power, and even skill, Delphina’s chances of winning were virtually non-existent.

“Ugh…!”

“As you wish, I’ll kill you together with your beloved Princess!!”

Gilbert roared in an excited voice and swung his halberd fiercely.

-Tukang!!

With one powerful strike, Delphina’s hammer finally left her two hands.

Toward her, who was clutching her wrists that were twisted almost to the breaking point, Gilbert raised his halberd high.

“With this…!!”

The weight of the halberd, which had been raised high in Gilbert’s hand, disappeared.

-Teop.

At the same time, a metallic prosthetic hand seized Gilbert’s face.

“…Eubeop?”

With his face in the grip of the prosthetic hand, Gilbert mumbled.

“With that body, where did such strength…?!”

-Kwaaang!!

As Gilbert’s words trailed off, the back of his head was smashed into the floor.

-Cheolgeong…!

The halberd, cut in half, flailed in the air a couple of times before falling to the floor.

Gilbert, who had been trembling with his limbs raised upward, soon went limp like wet seaweed on the floor.

“…P-Princess?”

Delphina murmured in a voice mixed with anxiety, surprise, and shock.

Evangeline’s body, which had been pressing Gilbert’s unconscious face to the floor, tilted forward.

“Princess!”

Delphina, who rushed forward urgently, embraced Evangeline.

The palm that she wrapped around her was sticky and warm.

“…Hiek.”

With the sticky sensation felt at her fingertips, Delphina, half in panic, looked around helplessly.

“…What, what are you doing, Delphina.”

Delphina shook her head deliberately and murmured.

From her fingertips covered in blood, a thin white light emerged.

“Please, please…”

Holding the pale-faced Evangeline, Delphina poured out all her holy power without even having time to think.

Rise up, Princess.

It is far too early for you to slump down.

It’s alright to turn a blind eye to those who died. It’s alright to deceive yourself.

A commander must sometimes know how to be uglier than anyone else.

Rather than thinking about the one you couldn’t save, think about the ten you could save.

It’s never too late to regret and despair after everything is over.

“…Huk.”

Sweating cold sweat, I opened my eyes.

A beat after regaining consciousness, I felt the sensation of the old, thin blanket covering my body and the bandages tightly wrapped around my entire body.

“Where am I… Oww.”

As I bent my upper body slightly to get up, a sharp pain like being hammered all over my body hit me.

Shedding a small tear, I obediently lay back down on the bed, and the door at the corner of the room flung open.

“Princess!”

Delphina, looking unkempt, burst in and shouted.

She approached as if reflexively about to throw herself at me, but stopped with a squeak and became hesitant.

“Y-you’re awake.”

Delphina’s gaze slightly shifted to my neck and below.

Lowering my head slightly to look down, I saw bandages stained bright red.

“I was worried. You’ve been lying like dead for a full three days…”

“Of course. With that absurd physical condition, it’s a miracle you could move at all.”

Behind Delphina, a man nodded and murmured.

Who is he? A face in my memory.

But not a familiar feeling, rather…

“Gilbert de Roi!”

I grabbed Delphina’s hand and pulled her sharply toward me.

“W-woah!”

Shielding Delphina, who had collapsed onto the bed with a thump, with my hand, I reflexively shouted.

“What are you plotting!”

“…Hmm?”

But he rather tilted his head as if he didn’t understand my reaction.

“What are you doing?”

“Quit the pathetic acting.”

I growled, suppressing my aching body.

“No, Aslaksha. It must be you, right?”

There was no doubt.

The last image remaining in my memory was of Delphina and him facing each other, exuding ominous auras.

I also remember him revealing his name and trapping Delphina, pressing her.

Although I couldn’t sense the distinctive terrible “smell” of someone being controlled by the Demon King’s Army… it’s that Aslaksha. She must have hidden it somehow.

“W-wait a moment!”

At that moment, Delphina, who was in my arms, carefully struggled.

“It’s a misunderstanding, Princess!”

“…Misunderstanding?”

“That person, the control is gone. The Demon King’s Army can’t interfere anymore.”

At Delphina’s words, I looked down at her with suspicious eyes.

Could Delphina also be under control?

“I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not it.”

Delphina shook her head and raised her hand.

From her fingertips, white light leaked out.

“Have you forgotten? I’m a Holy Knight.”

“The necromancy used by the Demon King’s Army is antithetical to the holy power exerted by Holy Knights.”

Gilbert de Roi, who was apparently in his right mind, continued.

“The two forces repel each other like water and oil. You’ve already met Jean Saturnus, who was the Commander-in-Chief of our Imperial Guard, right?”

“…”

I silently nodded. Gilbert murmured, “As expected,” and nodded his head.

“The fact that he alone was able to safely escape the Demon King’s Army’s brainwashing from the beginning, and that I was able to belatedly escape from the Demon King’s Army’s brainwashing spell, is thanks to the Holy Knights’ Sacred Law.”

“…But the opponent is Aslaksha.”

I asked again, still not dropping my guard.

“Compared to her power, with Delphina’s meager strength…”

“Meager, you say?”

Gilbert shook his head.

“Although she didn’t directly confront Aslaksha, Delphina’s Sacred Law was powerful enough to be comparable to Lord Saturnus’s divine power.”

“…Really?”

I asked, half-believing. Toward me, Gilbert narrowed his eyes and asked back.

“Wasn’t she your escort, Evangeline?”

“She is, but…”

“I don’t mean to meddle, but let me add one thing: aren’t you trusting her too little? Someone talented enough to be assigned as an assistant to none other than the Princess Knight would by no means be at an ordinary level.”

Gilbert shook his head.

“And I understand your suspicion of me… but if I were being controlled, I would have killed you and Delphina while you were unconscious and escaped from here long ago.”

“…Well. Or perhaps there was something you wanted to obtain even by deceiving us. Like you deceived Jean Saturnus.”

“Then let me ask in return. In this situation, what could I gain by deceiving you?”

Gilbert asked me.

To me, who couldn’t readily come up with an answer, Gilbert said.

“There’s nothing. As you know, the Demon King’s Army’s most immediate major goal is to eliminate you.”

“…”

“Having shared consciousness with that Aslaksha, albeit in a limited way, I know. For the Demon King’s Army at this point, there are only two things that take precedence over killing you right now.”

“Two things?”

I tilted my head and asked back.

“What are they?”

“One is the death of Lord Raymond Scabbard, the Knight Commander of your kingdom.”

Gilbert showed two fingers and said.

“And the other is… securing the ‘World Tree’s sapling’.”

“The World Tree’s sapling?”

I tilted my head and whispered to Delphina.

“Delphina, what’s the World Tree’s sapling?”

It was a question I asked thinking it might be some common knowledge of this world that I wasn’t familiar with.

However, Delphina shook her head as if she didn’t know either.

“I don’t know either?”

“…Gilbert, what is that?”

“…It seems you both don’t know either.”

This time even Gilbert nodded as if he expected that.

“I don’t know exactly what the World Tree’s sapling is… but the Demon King’s Army firmly believes that it exists somewhere in this West Continent.”

“…”

“And finding it and taking it to the demon realm is the reason why the Demon King’s Army started this war… what they call the ‘conquest war’.”